Trains, onsen....more trains, more onsen! Might have taken some flights too...

[rbjhan]

We were thinking of taking a day trip to Yufuin from Beppu in February if I manage to make the trip (health permitting). But it sounds like maybe not really worth it as we do really dislike the crowds. What’s your advice/suggestion on this please @rbjhan?

It really depends on your interest.
For example I'm not a great fan of the shops on the main street in Yufuin, they all look identical after 5 mins...also some very western style - obviously does nothing for me! But from what I hear many people like them.

I'd say day trip to Yufuin is generally a bad idea - too many people, that's what all those locker shops are for! Early morning stroll along Kinrinko I imagine would be very nice, so spending one night might be worth it - depends on your budget. Coz I'd recommend going high end.

I had better experience in Beppu. Ryokans are cheaper, and Beppu is a city so there are more things to do than Yufuin. And I think the actual onsen water quality is better.

Edit, in terms of crowds it's no contest. In Yufuin everybody is on that ONE street going from the station to Kinrinko...


Beppu is quite spread out. There's the Hells area, Mount Tsurumi area, downtown near JR Beppu, etc.

 

[rbjhan]

Time to head out for a walk.
As you can see, ryokans! Okyakuya is the one two down from the star sign.
Right, let me explain a little.
Kurokawa onsen town itself is nested along the river valley, very compact and probably 30 mins is enough to walk it from one end to the other. There are some shops and restaurants, but mostly ryokans. If you do not enjoy onsen then don't bother coming, nothing else to do


Townscape was very attractive.






Again, freezing cold but many people in yukata walking about ... I do admire their determination!

 

[rbjhan]

Dinner time!

Menu


All the starters


The aforementioned horsemeat sashimi Going to be honest here, I did not eat the fat bit!


Roast beef was much more to my taste


Chicken hot pot, very tasty! Now that was what I would call free range chicken...
*honestly, our beef and lamb can rival the best anywhere (okay wagyu is not the same but I can live with that), but holy sxx_ chicken here is rubbish...



Later the pot was taken away to cook rice and egg in the chicken broth, this was my favourite.


Dessert.

 

[rbjhan]

In the evening I went back to the Rotenburo, warm and ready to go to sleep.
Futon was set up during dinner time.


Firstly I'll say, yes that night was very cold, temps hovering around zero...

But, in typical Japanese fashion aircon were set to 25C (I turned off mine) everywhere.
There was a blanket as you can see from the picture, after removing it I still felt incredibly warm, and heavy.

I was like maybe I should get rid of the doona and use the blanket instead.... started working on it, then realised there were actually TWO heavy doonas put together
Okay so for the typical Japanese, they sleep under 2 winter doonas+ blanket, in 25C....for the life of me I will never understand them

 

[Matt_01]

@rbjhan I do like your Japan TRs, as a family we have been to Japan a few times and as a solo traveller I have been there a few more times. When reading your TRs I think you provide the right balance of information and photos to do research into places I may not have been to and looks interesting and then balance that with 'will I take the family'. Mrs&MissM have stayed at Ryokans (both high end and semi-budget) but I am yet to book them in one without a private bathroom and expect if I did I would be hearing about it for years to come.

 

[rbjhan]

@rbjhan I do like your Japan TRs, as a family we have been to Japan a few times and as a solo traveller I have been there a few more times. When reading your TRs I think you provide the right balance of information and photos to do research into places I may not have been to and looks interesting and then balance that with 'will I take the family'. Mrs&MissM have stayed at Ryokans (both high end and semi-budget) but I am yet to book them in one without a private bathroom and expect if I did I would be hearing about it for years to come.

Thanks!

Re onsen, once you get over the thing about nudity, I do think it's actually best to visit the public bath even if private ones are available. Generally speaking the big bath will have the best view, best facility etc. Like Okyakuya here in #77, the rotenburo is 100 times better!

 

[Matt_01]

Thanks!

Re onsen, once you get over the thing about nudity, I do think it's actually best to visit the public bath even if private ones are available. Generally speaking the big bath will have the best view, best facility etc. Like Okyakuya here in #77, the rotenburo is 100 times better!

I am fine with the nudity and stayed in capsule hotels and never thought I would have been 7 floors up looking out over old Kyoto in the buff but it did happen. My post was not well written when I mention private bathroom I was thinking about about a loo and bath in your room. When travelling soIo I have stayed in traditional housing and other accommodation organised via friends. Usually the the bath was outside but close to the house, the toilet was further away. Cheap accommodation have no washing facilities in your room.

 

[rbjhan]

I am fine with the nudity and stayed in capsule hotels and never thought I would have been 7 floors up looking out over old Kyoto in the buff but it did happen. My post was not well written when I mention private bathroom I was thinking about about a loo and bath in your room. When travelling soIo I have stayed in traditional housing and other accommodation organised via friends. Usually the the bath was outside but close to the house, the toilet was further away. Cheap accommodation have no washing facilities in your room.

Ahh I see, actual bathrooms not ofuro...
Yeah I mean obviously on an overnight train or ferry the bathroom is shared and I had no problems with it.
Something about this minshuku I just didn't like...might have been the bathroom or the ofuro or just everything combined!
But I was having a big sigh of relief when I saw there's a bathroom in the room in Okyakuya

 

[Cossie]

Wow, this is bringing back some memories deeply rooted in the basement of my brain.

We wanted to visit the Aso craters, but there was some activity happening, thus we could only visit the museum, still have some brochures from there, 38 years (I think) ago.

Love your TR’s, you have a great way with describing things.

Who says I’m a hoarder, I’ll post the rest of the pamphlets later for those that might be interested.

 

[rbjhan]

Woke up early the next morning, time to try the other rotenburo


Bit of a walk but very nice!
The little building on the other side of the river was a public bathhouse for local residents, 200 Yen entry iirc.




I still prefer the standing bath though...

 

[rbjhan]

Breakfast was okay I guess?
Must have mentioned before I'm not really a fan of Japanese brekkie...but usually the more traditional ryokans don't serve western breakfast.


Checked out, bought a Tegata (onsen hopping pass) for 1500 Yen.


So, famously in Kurokawa there's this "Rotenburo Meguri", meaning onsen hopping.
This tegata provides entry to 3 different onsens (of your choice) in town, valid for up to six months. You can buy one at the info centre or any participating ryokan.

Like I said, there wasn't much to do in Kurokawa, and my next hotel would pick me up at 4.45 so I had time to kill...

First stop Shinmeikan, famous for its cave onsen...


Well this was a mistake.
Firstly, only 3 baths were for tegata users, all others were ryokan guests only. And of the three available, 2 were mixed gendered, basically meaning male only. I did not see any women going that way.
So only one cave, it was not big. And they didn't seem to care how many people they let in...
(for comparison, in Okyakuya, the standing bath is ryokan guest only. But everything else is made available to tegata users)


I was there quite early so found a spot in the cave, it was deep and the steam made for poor visibility....so I kept seeing people coming in and struggled to find somewhere to soak...not funny.

Also worth mentioning there was no washing area and only a shed for you to take off the clothes, and it was cold! The Japanese were wearing layers upon layers of clothing and struggling to take them off in a very small space...

Aaagghh this was so bad

I get it, the cave is famous and they are in a very central location but omg don't go to this one!
0/10， not a single redeeming quality I can think of.

 

[rbjhan]

I was properly traumatised, hmmm, two more to go.....

Well during the booking process I also considered Noshiyu, confident in myself that I would not pick a bad one, decided to give them a try!

Noshiyu restored my belief in the tegata!
First of all, maybe because it was kinda far from the town centre and shops , I was the only one there! So pictures~~ yeah~~~

Also, the dressing area was not a shed! And chairs!


Hair dryer (right side on the wall)!


And the rotenburo was very nice


Noshiyu I highly recommed.

 

[rbjhan]

The few restaurants in town centre were all full. Checked Google maps and found one not too far away, about 10 mins walk...
Menu was promising


I ordered the chicken set.






Food was nice despite me being not very good at bbq...
Problem was, aagghh by this stage I felt like a broken record, the restaurant was heat up to 25C, plus a big fire right in the middle of every single table....yeah this place was HOT
So I finished the meal as fast as humanly possible and left!

 

[rbjhan]

Third and final entry of the tegata!

Picked Ikoi Ryokan which was next door to Okyakuya.

Lobby


Two rotenburo available.


Pictures from their website.
Also a standing bath!


The other one was not bad either.


So I've been to four different ryokans' bath, Okyakuya was the best 5 stars.
Noshiyu and Ikoi were not bad either, 4 stars.
Shinmeikan, well you know what I think of them...

 

[rbjhan]

Near their entrance area, Ikoi had set up a foot bath, a seating area, all free to use.


Footbath was occupied so no pictures.

Also selling onsen eggs.


The finished version of my tegata.


I was sitting there enjoying life, suddenly this VERY LOUD Korean tour group came in....looked around (didn't go in) for a few mins and left...
Ryokans in Kurokawa are all quite boutique style, I don't think they take tour groups at all.
Not sure what they gonna achieve by swinging in like that...

 

[rbjhan]

Time to go...

Okyakuya didn't just drop me off at the bus stop though, the driver asked me to wait inside the car while he went outside waiting for the car from Senomoto Kogen Hotel to show up, then talked to the driver to make sure it was for me.
I was effectively handed over from one driver to the other
Their service was impeccable from the beginning to the end

Senomoto Kogen Hotel, located on a plateau near Kurokawa onsen, about 900m above sea level.
The surroundings were completely different from the rustic townscape of Kurokawa.


I booked a room on the ground floor with a private outdoor bath~~





There's even a back door, leading to the pool area - obviously not in use during November.


Caught the sunset!

 

[rbjhan]

Well, there was a flaw in the room design...even though the room came with a bath, there was no shower

So I had to pay a visit to the big rotenburo first.
This one was quite something though!
Picture from hotel website.


Interestingly they accept entry of the Kurokawa tegata here as well. Saw a few day visitors.

After that I went back to soak in my own bath....aahh...life was good.

This stay cost roughly the same as Okyakuya. Now I know you are going to ask how? A big room with private bath? Answer is dinner, here I got a small bento and that's it


Bought some snacks and ice cream from their shop to supplement the dinner
Yes in Aso Prefecture there's no escaping Kumamon! We'll get to that later.


As it turned out, visiting multiple baths is hard work! Got sleepy around 8pm so I thought just lay down a bit before going to visit the public bath....but I slept through the whole night, woke up around 12, brushed my teeth and back to sleep again till next morning

 

[randompunter]

Well, there was a flaw in the room design...even though the room came with a bath, there was no shower

So I had to pay a visit to the big rotenburo first.
This one was quite something though!
Picture from hotel website.
View attachment 357007

Interestingly they accept entry of the Kurokawa tegata here as well. Saw a few day visitors.

After that I went back to soak in my own bath....aahh...life was good.

This stay cost roughly the same as Okyakuya. Now I know you are going to ask how? A big room with private bath? Answer is dinner, here I got a small bento and that's it
View attachment 357012

Bought some snacks and ice cream from their shop to supplement the dinner
Yes in Aso Prefecture there's no escaping Kumamon! We'll get to that later.
View attachment 357013

As it turned out, visiting multiple baths is hard work! Got sleepy around 8pm so I thought just lay down a bit before going to visit the public bath....but I slept through the whole night, woke up around 12, brushed my teeth and back to sleep again till next morning

Enjoying this detailed trip report. We just came back from a Shikoku and Kyushu road trip but with a toddler in tow so quite a different experience to the relaxing onsens of your trip! Still had a fun time though and speaking of Kumamon we brought home two stuffed Kumamons. Also a Tama from the Wakayama Tama Densha. All currently hanging from our Xmas tree.

 

[Seat0B]

It really depends on your interest.
For example I'm not a great fan of the shops on the main street in Yufuin, they all look identical after 5 mins...also some very western style - obviously does nothing for me! But from what I hear many people like them.

I'd say day trip to Yufuin is generally a bad idea - too many people, that's what all those locker shops are for! Early morning stroll along Kinrinko I imagine would be very nice, so spending one night might be worth it - depends on your budget. Coz I'd recommend going high end.

I had better experience in Beppu. Ryokans are cheaper, and Beppu is a city so there are more things to do than Yufuin. And I think the actual onsen water quality is better.

Edit, in terms of crowds it's no contest. In Yufuin everybody is on that ONE street going from the station to Kinrinko...
View attachment 356825

Beppu is quite spread out. There's the Hells area, Mount Tsurumi area, downtown near JR Beppu, etc.

Thanks for your reply. I’m no fan of crowds at all, so we will spend the extra time in Beppu. We have booked a lovely hotel, highly rated with in house onsens that people write very positive review for. I think that will be better for us.

edit for typos

 

[rbjhan]

Enjoying this detailed trip report. We just came back from a Shikoku and Kyushu road trip but with a toddler in tow so quite a different experience to the relaxing onsens of your trip! Still had a fun time though and speaking of Kumamon we brought home two stuffed Kumamons. Also a Tama from the Wakayama Tama Densha. All currently hanging from our Xmas tree.

I wished I had bought a stuffed Kumamon! Sadly too big for my case